A day In the Life of a technical writer

As the Beatles song says: Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb…you get it. You don’t need the comb necessarily because you’ll probably be working at home – more about that later – but you’ll need other skills to survive as a technical writer. You’ll need to be a fast learner who can think on his or her feet..

Do you like to tear things down to see how they work? Good, because you’ll be spending lots of time observing the product or service you’re documenting. You’ll also be talking to engineers about subject matter, perhaps even drilling down into the underlying code.

It’s a given that you’ll need a diverse and deep skill set to thrive. Knowing how to use Microsoft Office doesn’t cut it anymore. Today’s technical writer is adept with a range of tools. Depending on the industry you’re working in and the type of documentation you’re producing, you’ll need to know HTML, Javadoc, RoboHelp, Doxygen, Cornerstone, DITA, X-code and many others. Also, it won’t hurt to have some basic graphic design skills. In a pinch a writer way need to create a chart or tweak a page layout.

Typical day in the life of a technical writer includes:

Check your email Review the latest shift in direction from the project manager or try to guess the impact of an unexpected build from your favorite rogue engineer. (Is it a bug or a feature?) Increasingly, project collaborators are distributed across the globe. A critical email may appear in your inbox an hour after you’ve left the office.

Take a meeting … If you’re lucky you may get invited to project meetings. And you might be lucky enough to attend an actual documentation meeting. But don’t count on it!

Churn. Create content. Use Google Docs, Framemaker, or Open Office to author,review, collaborate, and publish your documentation. A nightly build uses the content to generate files in various formats—CHM, HTML, and PDF. The system makes it possible for others in R&D, QA, Sales, Marketing, and Management to edit your content and add new wrinkles instead of using a middle-man to route requests to you.

Copy-edit your draft. Did I mention that copy editors are an endangered species? No one’s seen one since 2002. It’s the new business model and you’re going to have to live with it. You will be expected to make sure that the content is free from errors—spelling, grammar, punctuation—and consistent with the corporate style guide.

Install new build. Every morning a fresh software build is made available.. You’ll want to install it and bang on it for awhile to absorb new features and bug fixes—or just roll your eyes at the latest twisted GUI updates by those crazy guys in the Ukraine.

Fix bugs. Close doc bugs Every day you can expect to query Bugzilla or another SMS to see the latest documentation bugs/requests with your name at top. Some bugs can be fixed in 5 minutes while others (majority) may require hours of effort and a temper tantrum or two. . Every writer’s ideal is the zero-bug report. Dream on.

Stay current. Adapt or die. That’s the way it is in the Valley and that’s why we love it. A writer needs to stay on top of the latest innovations, the hottest companies, and the newest documentation standards.

Find a niche and mine it. There are different types of documentation. Programmer documentation is highly technical with a “just the facts” approach to writing. On the other hand, a consumer audience needs lots of hand-holding, entertaining tutorials, and lots of strokes. Find out what you’re good at and own it!

Technical writing is a growth industry. Technology is evolving at a breakneck pace, birthing new enterprises and flooding the marketplace with new products and services. And guess what? They all need documentation of some sort. While many consumer products are starting to feature intuitive interfaces that anticipate and address your needs, manuals will still be needed for years to come. It’s not getting easier; more companies are reducing costs by hiring technical writers as contingent workforce (up to 40% according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office). More likely, you’ll be doing more and making less. But hey, you like a challenge, don’t you?

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